"Hacker faces 17- to 25-year prison term" by Todd Wallack, Globe Staff | March 24, 2010
Albert Gonzalez, the Miami hacker who helped orchestrate some of the largest credit card heists in US history, is slated to be sentenced in several cases in Boston later this week.
Gonzalez, 28, pleaded guilty last year to helping to steal tens of millions of credit card and debit card numbers from a number of retailers, including TJX Cos. of Framingham and BJ’s Wholesale Club of Natick, and a major credit card processor, Heartland Payment Systems. Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, Gonzalez faces between 17 and 25 years in federal prison.
In recent court documents, prosecutors pushed for the maximum sentence possible, arguing Gonzalez was the central figure in the TJX breach that cost banks and retailers more than $200 million and exposed tens of millions of card numbers.
“Gonzalez was at the center of the largest and most costly series of identity thefts in the nation’s history,’’ Department of Justice lawyers wrote. “He knowingly victimized a group of people whose population exceeded that of many major cities and some states — certainly millions upon millions, perhaps tens of millions.’’
Prosecutors said the crime was particularly egregious because Gonzalez had already been arrested for an earlier theft, but avoided prison in exchange for working as a government informant. And prosecutors said he methodically went about the crimes in an effort in an effort to amass millions of dollars. Investigators found $1.1 million buried in his parents’ backyard. And in Internet chats, Gonzalez talked about wanting a yacht and plans to collect $15 million before laundering the money....
But Gonzalez’s lawyer. Boston lawyer Martin Weinberg, said in court papers that Gonzalez was a “peripheral’’ figure in the Heartland case. And unlike in a classic identity theft case, Weinberg said, Gonzalez only stole data, instead of trying to impersonate a real person to invade bank accounts and ruin someone’s credit....
Gonzalez “did not hack into government computer systems, he did not crash computer systems by spreading viruses or inundating them with spam, and he did not invade the privacy of individuals’ computers to steal such data as passwords to compromise their financial life and invade their personal privacy.’’
Weinberg has also presented evidence that Gonzalez was remorseful and that his judgment was impaired by drugs, alcohol, and other factors. A psychiatrist found that some of his behavior was consistent with an addiction to the Internet and with Asperger’s syndrome, a developmental disorder that is characterized by intense interest in a single object and difficulties with social interaction.
Yeah, right, he was the autistic informant.
But prosecutors disputed the findings, noting that Internet addiction is not a widely recognized disorder, and said as the ringleader in the TJX case, Gonzalez did not fit the profile of someone with Asperger’s syndrome. In addition, they said his lucid exchanges with other people belie “the notion that Gonzalez was constantly intoxicated or strung out on drugs while keyboarding.’’
Albert Gonzalez, the computer hacker who helped organize massive credit card thefts from TJX Cos., BJs Wholesale Club, and other national retailers, was sentenced in federal court in Boston yesterday to 20 years in prison, one of the longest sentences ever imposed for computer crime or identity theft.
The 28-year-old Miami native, who operated online under pseudonyms such as “soupnazi’’ and “segvec,’’ acknowledged stealing millions of debit and credit card numbers after penetrating the computer security defenses of a number of major companies....
US District Judge Patti Saris said the effects of his crimes were compounded by the fact that he committed them while working as a Secret Service informant after an earlier arrest in 2003, and she compared him to a “double agent.’’
“There is this macho, almost glee about how you could beat the system,’’ Saris noted, referring to Gonzalez’s boasts to friends in transcripts of private online chats.
But he's sorry and he was sick.
He thought he was immune because he was doing government work.
Then they turned on him and cui bono?
Something about a law that will protect you privacy.
Saris also said that based on letters she received from Gonzalez’s friends and family members, she doubted the suggestion from defense lawyers that he might have Asperger syndrome.
Gonzalez apologized in court to his family and asked the judge for mercy as his parents and sister tearfully looked on from the front row of the courtroom....
In calling for a stiff sentence yesterday, prosecutors said Gonzalez and his accomplices reaped millions of dollars from the stolen customer card numbers, using them to withdraw cash from ATMs or selling them on the black market in Eastern Europe, causing hundreds of millions of damages to retailers and financial institutions....
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So who is getting those IDs?
Prosecutors have charged a number of other people in connection with the thefts, but painted Gonzalez as the ringleader. “It was Gonzalez who organized an international group of hackers and identity thieves,’’ Stephen Heymann, the assistant US attorney handling the case, said. “And it was Gonzalez who profited the most.’’
Martin Weinberg, one of Gonzalez’s attorneys, told the judge: “He’s learned his lesson already.’’
Now that Gonzalez faces prison until his 40s, the Boston lawyer added, “It’s beyond devastating.’’
Aww, poor little hacker, huh?
And he's getting breaks already!
"Hacker won’t serve extra prison time; His 2 sentences will run concurrently" by Todd Wallack, Globe Staff | March 27, 2010
The Miami hacker who received a 20-year sentence Thursday for stealing millions of credit card numbers won’t spend extra years in prison for his role in another major hacking case.
In Boston yesterday, US District Court Judge Douglas Woodlock sentenced Albert Gonzalez to 20 years and a day, plus a $25,000 fine, for his role in stealing an estimated 130 million card numbers largely from Heartland Payment Systems Inc., one of the nation’s largest processors of credit and debit card payments. The sentence was also imposed for charges that Gonzalez, 28, helped to steal credit and debit card numbers from the 7-Eleven convenience store chain and regional grocer Hannaford Brothers Corp. of Maine, and for breaking into the computer systems of two other unnamed retailers. The new sentence will run simultaneously with the 20-year term imposed Thursday for stealing millions of card numbers from TJX Cos. of Framingham, BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. of Natick, and other major retailers.
Woodlock said he wanted to impose a significant sentence to punish Gonzalez and deter other hackers from committing similar crimes, but didn’t want to add years to the sentence imposed on Thursday. Woodlock noted that Gonzalez would probably not be released until he was in his mid-40s....
Still a lot of life ahead of him.
--more--"
Another hacker involved in the massive theft of credit card numbers from TJX and other retailers is going to be locked away.
In US District Court in Boston yesterday, Judge Douglas Woodlock sentenced Christopher Scott of Miami, who helped infiltrate the wireless data networks of several national retailers, to seven years in prison. Prosecutors described Scott, 27, as a key lieutenant of Albert Gonzalez, the 28-year-old Florida hacker who between 2003 and 2007 stole tens of millions of credit and debit card numbers from several retailers, including TJX Cos. — the Framingham company that operates the Marshalls and T.J. Maxx store chains — BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. of Natick, Sports Authority, DSW, Barnes & Noble, OfficeMax, and others.
Gonzalez, who pleaded guilty last year, was sentenced last week to more than 20 years in prison, one of the longest sentences ever issued for a hacking or identity theft case. The government said the retailers, banks, and insurers lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the data theft. TJX alone pegged its losses at $171.5 million, including the cost of settling litigation after the breach. BJ’s estimated it lost between $11 million and $13 million. Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Scott, who pleaded guilty in September 2008, to 13 years in prison. Defense attorneys had asked for a three-year sentence. Gonzalez allegedly paid Scott about $400,000 over the course of their partnership.
Several other minor figures in the case have already been sentenced. A week ago, Jeremy Jethro, 29, was sentenced to three years probation and six months of home confinement for supplying the code that helped Gonzalez break into TJX and other companies. Gonzalez allegedly paid Jethro $60,000 for the software. Earlier this month, Humza Zaman, 33, was sentenced to 46 months in prison for helping Gonzalez launder roughly $700,000. And last December, Stephen Watt, 26, a former Morgan Stanley programmer, was sentenced to two years in prison for tweaking hacking software for Gonzalez.
Odd that the Globe didn't report those items until now.
Separately, the court unsealed documents yesterday showing that Gonzalez successfully infiltrated two other retailers — JC Penney Co. Inc. and Wet Seal Inc. — although prosecutors did not find evidence that Gonzalez obtained any credit card data from those companies. The companies had asked Woodlock to keep their identities secret.
--more--"So how many more helpers are out there?
"2d hacker in TJX case sentenced to 5 years; Defendant also fined $100,000" by Todd Wallack, Globe Staff | April 16, 2010
Another hacker involved in the TJX credit card theft case, Damon Patrick Toey, has been sent to prison....
Without crucial information from Toey, the government acknowledged it would not have been able to charge Gonzalez and two unidentified Russian hackers with breaking into Heartland Payment Systems, one of the nation’s largest processor of debit and credit cards, and Hannaford Brothers, a grocery store chain based in Maine....
So the guy was informing on the informant, 'eh?
And WHY UNIDENTIFIED? I can't help but think it has something to do with a certain religious faith, don't you?
Prior to his sentencing, Toey was living with his family in Virginia Beach, Va., working at an Outback Steakhouse as a dishwasher and dating a culinary student from Charleston, S.C. He has also stopped using drugs and alcohol, his attorney said.
WTF?
In addition to Toey and Gonzalez, four other members of the hacking ring have already been sentenced in the past few months.
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I've got to get away for a bit, readers.
